Life as a PCT

Hola a todos!

Sorry I haven´t posted sooner, but my internet access is actually more limited than many. I should be able to get weekly access for the next 10 weeks, so I will update then!

We arrived in Quito last Thursday, the night of June second. All 62 of us made it, which apparently doesn´t always happen. When we got to the airport we were immiediately tagged with Peace Corps stickers for easier identification and to expedite our customs and immigration process. We successfully all got our luggage, went through the stops and got to the buses without any gliches. The PC staff was fantastic and was at all the stops along the way to get us through quickly and safely. We then bused to
Tumbaco, which was about a 50 minute bus ride from Quito. We arrived at the PC training center around 9 and were greeted by the whole training staff and a welcome dinner. We then went to our assigned 12 person rooms that were very cute with 6 bunk beds in each. Everyone was exhausted from having travelled since midnight the night before, so we went to bed early.

The training center is an increidble facility recently acquired by PC. It was a run a down and abondoned school that is now home to training. We are just the second group to have training there and the first group to spend the night and the place makes it feel like we are just in a giant summer camp. Friday was a day of safety briefings, medical exams and vaccinations (rabies and hep B for me), paperwork, and introductions. There was also a lot of food and down time to just spend with each other and get to know people better.

Saturday was the day we met our host families! We had a morning session that was a whirlwind introduction to Ecuadorian culture and living with host families. Jeanette, our head trainer, led the session, answered questions, then wished us all a last ¨bueno suerte¨ as we filed up the stairs to the courtyard filled with waiting families. They called the volunteers one by one, then the host family. I haven´t been as nervous as I was standing there waiting to see my family in a long time. They finally called my name about halfway through the volunteers and my host mom came up and gave me a big hug. I collected all of my bags and we set off! We walked for a ways until we could catch a taxi, then drove about 15 minutes to the house. Her son and his family (wife and two young kids) had come from Guayaquil for the weekend to meet me (8 hour bus ride!), and they were very nice. Her daughter Anita, and Anita´s 13 year-old-daughter Cristy were also both there and are great!

We stayed at the house for a few minutes while I dropped my bags off, then immediately left for lunch. We went to some sort of fiesta with a big stage, loud music, lots of people, and food vendors. For lunch I had some sort of pig, which was staring me in the face while they were cutting pieces of meat off for me. That was on top of a wet pile of lettuce and tomatoes, and some Ecuadorian tortillas (like mashed potatoes). All I could think the whole time is that it went against anything and everything I had ever been taught about eating food in other countries, but I survived!

We started training at 8 am on Monday after a 50 minute walk from my house. There are 3 other volunteers in my neighborhood, so we walk to and from training together everyday. There is a bus, but it isn´t much quicker and we all decided we would rather walk along the bike path to get a little exercise before sitting in classes all day! Many of the classes this week were about safety and security, cultural sensitivity, and other introduction classes, but towards the end of the week we broke into more specific groups. Some of the highlights included our first medical session specific to parasites and worms. A lot of people were totally freaked out by it, but I figure there is no point in worrying until it happens (which they almost guaranteed it will to all of us), and then take it from there. Knock on wood, I haven´t been too sick at all yet!

I am in the Programa de Salud, which we have had a few technical sessions for so far. Our goals and jobs during service have changed from the invitation I received, so I will now be focusing on either nutrition and food security or hygiene and water sanitation, or both. Although I was really excited about the child and maternal assignment I originally had, it is all so interconnected that I will still be working tons with children and families. As for the food security part, we are starting our own gardens next week to learn how to create vegetable gardens. In conjunction with that, we are taking cooking classes to teach how to cook balanced meals from foods we can grow when we get to our sites. It should be great!! I think I was preliminarily pushed into the nutition site because of my work little bit of experience in the Dominican Republic, which I´m thrilled about. The other great thing is that we all learn everything within the health group, so we have a foundation of knowledge for anything we may find when we get to our permanent sites.

My spanish comprehension is definitely improving, although I still have doubts about every beig able to speak well. I placed into an advanced language group for training, so classes are challenging but also interesting and will hopefully help me learn more quickly! My host family is also great about the Spanish and I feel like they will probably be the key to me being able to learn more quickly.

That´s about all for now - I am just in the city center getting ready to walk home with one of my volunteer neighbors after a day of conducting preliminary assessment surveys in the nearby town of Puemba. The days of  training are long and exhausting, so I´m going to take advantage of having a Saturday afternoon off to rest! I loved getting to read comments from people and want to keep hearing from home - I´m absolutely loving everything here, but still miss all of you!

Besos a todos!

Kerry